


The Boy, The Cat, The Cube.

by LordOfTheRuffles_BenedictHancock



Series: Anomalies [1]
Category: Anomalies - Fandom
Genre: anomalies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 10:30:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21014318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordOfTheRuffles_BenedictHancock/pseuds/LordOfTheRuffles_BenedictHancock
Summary: Hello there! My name is Benedict Hancock, and this is the first story from "Anomalies" a world I'm building and writing stories for!Anomalies is lots of Short stories based around Earth, but with a Magic/Superhero twist. People and Animals on Earth can develop powers that defy all logic and explanations called Drives, These drives can do anything from allow the User, Or Anomaly as they're known, to shoot fire from their fingers to Shatter time itself. It all depends on the user.This Particular story is the origin story of Paradox, A boy who touches an Illogical cube of pure time, and the results of such an action.Please Enjoy! And if you liked it, Please share it around!P.S I'm a new writer so I do apologise for any grammatical errors, If you see them, don't hesitate to correct me to make the next story even better!





	The Boy, The Cat, The Cube.

“*****!?” a voice said, rousing the boy from his slumber, but not fully, he couldn’t open is eyes or mouth he didn’t have the strength. “What? What’s that? Who Said that? Where am I?” thought the boy, It was cold, his face felt wet with one side pressed against what he could only assume was pavement “What’s-” the boy attempted to think of the word they said but any attempt to say it came out wrong, to him it sounded like whispering and static. The boy tried to remember why, he thought as hard as it could about what got him here. But all his mind saw was a black space, a silver cat facing away from him and a golden cube. This puzzled the boy, but he didn’t have time to ponder it, he had to know what’s happened to him, so he tried again to remember. But it didn’t work. He kept seeing the same flashes of the Cat, the Cube and the space. He kept trying, over and over and with every flash the cat slowly turned around and walked up to him. It was now looking at him. The boy was scared, no, terrified by this but he had to know so he took a deep raspy breath and thought as hard as he could.   
  
He was now in the space. It had little white lights all over it, he couldn’t make out the shape of the room, he looked around and saw the golden cube. On closer inspection it was opaque with a breathing glow of pure gold with each side perfectly symmetrical to the other and a sliver lining on each edge, He saw the cat on the other side of the space, the cat’s silver fur shone like mercury in the sunlight, it’s golden eyes seemed to have tiny clock faces in them and leagues of wisdom below that. The boy blinked and opened his eyes. The cat was now front of him. Face to face.   
“What is this space!?, What are you!?” the boy demanded, panic running through his very soul.  
“It’s just that” said the cat, but its mouth did not move at all, its voice sounded refined and honeyed, like spreading butter on hot toast. “Space” the cat smiled and started to walk around the boy, scanning up and down him with its golden eyes. The boy was about fort six cupcakes tall, own brand to be precise. He had confused blue eyes, the same kind of eyes that a brown-haired father has when his black-haired wife gives birth to a blonde-haired boy, His face was smooth and almost wrinkle free, He must use some kind of magic too keep it like that, thought the cat. His black hair was short and scruffy, it clearly hadn’t seen the delicate hands of a barber in a while, it reminded the cat of the hairballs he’d occasionally cough up. As for his clothes, well, the cat didn’t know precisely what they are, The boy had some kind of white shirt on, but it was covered in weird flappy bits around the chest and sleeves, His trousers where plain black, but he was wearing a black studded belt adorned in all sorts of jangly trinkets, with a large golden belt buckle depicting some kind of dragon. His shoes where jet black boots that clearly had not been polished in their lifetime. All in all, the cat thought It looked like something a poor person would wear to impersonate the rich.  
The boy noticed that the cat had started walking up to and around his head, but it was walking on nothing.  
“Space? As in outer space?” said the boy, scared and confused.  
“The very same” replied the cat with a grin on its face, oh how he loved confusing mortals.  
“But how? How did I get here?” the boy asked looking around at his surroundings, realising that the white lights are stars.  
“I presume you’re here because of that” The cat gestured it’s head towards the floating cube “it’s been causing me no end of trouble” the cat stared at the cube with curious intent.   
“What? How? What is that thing?” the boy said, but the second he finished his sentence, the cat suddenly appeared in front of him again.  
“Stop asking so many questions. I may be Infinite, but I certainly do not have infinite patience. I’m a cat.” The cat said, annoyed. The boy was about to ask another question, but before he could even finish thinking about it the cat said “What did I just say, No. More. Questions” and put a paw on the boys’ lips. “I will answer your remaining questions, but you must also answer mine, agreed?”  
“Y-yes” the boy said, gently removing the cat’s paw from his lips.   
“Good” said the cat, smile on his face. “Let’s begin again” He hopped onto the cube.  
“I am Tace, The Celestial of Time and Space. I am the physical and metaphysical embodiment of Time and Space, I am the universal observer I see everything, Everywhere. The past, The Future, even time that never can nor will happen. Also, yes, You’re in space.” Tace said, puffing up his chest to make himself seem even greater than he already is.   
“As for what the cube is, it’s a total anomaly, try to keep up, this will most likely go past your mortal mind. It’s a cube of pure time. A 4th dimensional element bound to the 3rd dimension. By all laws it should and is completely impossible. As to how it came to be, well, one of your kind is to blame for that.” Tace looked at the boy with a cold stare, the boy didn’t understand what he meant by ‘your kind’ but he felt guilty nether the less, like a dog blamed for a cat’s prank. “Now, before I tell you, well, figure out how you got here, you must answer my questions” Tace jumped up and sat on the space in front of the boy’s face. “Who are you?” Tace asked  
  
“Aren’t you a God? Shouldn’t you already know?” asked the boy. Tace looked back, his golden eyes widening with rage.  
“I am NOT a God! God’s are mere fantasies dreamed up by mortals, they can be created and destroyed within seconds, I’ve met God’s! And let me tell you they are nothing more than mortals who have become drunk on power! Any mortal can become a god.” He arched his back and his form started to ascend into a cosmic lion, infinitely larger than the boy, His fur had become the very cosmos itself and the boy saw all of time in his eyes and a black hole of rage in his mouth, the stars around them began to supernova as Tace roared at the boy, a roar that shook the very heavens “I am a Celestial! I have been here since the very beginning; I am a fundamental part of the universe! You cannot have existence without time or space, Without Me! I cannot die! I’m not a Mere god! Is that clear?! I. AM. NOT. A. GOD.” Tace took a deep breath and slowly return to his normal size and stature. The boy had fallen onto his back stunned, terrified, the fear of god. No. A Celestial. In his eyes. Tace then looked at the boy “Now answer my question. Who are you?”  
  
“I…I Don’t know” The boy tried to remember who he was, but when he thought all he could see was the Cube Of Time in his mind “I’m trying to remember, but all I can see is that Cube” The boy looked at his hands, Hands that he didn’t recognise “Now that I think about it, I don’t even remember what I look like, let alone what my name is” The boy started to cry, he looked at Tace, who merely looked at the boy with no remorse. He had seen this so many times over the eons. Mortal comes to Tace with a dire problem, usually bawling their eyes out, begging for divine intervention but Tace never usually gave such interventions, unless it could benefit him. Tace didn’t care the first time a mortal begged for help, and he certainly wasn’t going to care now. His job was, and always has been, to observe the universe to see the workings of mortal life. That’s why he takes the shape of a cat, Mortals never question a cat, If I cat was to suddenly wander into an important war meeting or a maternity ward in east Sussex hardly anyone would bat an eyelid “I had a life, A Family, Friends and a Name. I was someone. But now I’m no-one, I’m a stranger in my own body, a body that I don’t even know” The boy fell to his knees and covered his hands with his face.  
“Listen, if you’re just going to sit there and cry, then I’m just going to put you back where you came from”   
The boy took his hands away from his face and looked at Tace with teary eyes “What happened to me?” He said, voice trembling, tears rolling down his cheeks.   
  
“Your dead” Tace said with the grace of a sledgehammer.  
“What?! I…I Can’t be dead! I’m right here!” The boy screamed, His sorrow turning into hysteria   
“Or at least you should be dead.” Tace continued “You touched the Cube, didn’t you?”  
“What? No, I haven’t touched it since I got taken here, what’s that got do to with it anyway?” the boy said, trying to calm down, but still panicked  
“The Cube must never be touched by mortal hands, or else it tries to use the user as a conduit, which usually results in the mortal not being able to handle the power and then swiftly getting shredded all over time and space, erasing them from existence. But you. You haven’t been shredded, annoyingly” Tace said, with morbid curiosity   
“I told you I didn’t touch your god dammed cube!”   
“But you did. You can’t remember how you got here can’t you, The Cube will do that to do, all your memories, all the memories people have of you, your very soul has been scattered through all of time and space.” Tace pondered how such a stupid mortal could survive contact with the Time Cube, it then suddenly dawned on him. “Do you Remember where you are from?”  
  
“Oxford, shouldn’t you already know all this, seeing as you’re a Celestial”   
“No, well, Yes, I’m a Celestial, Embodiment of time and space and all that. But just because I’m a Fundamental does not mean I’m omniscient”   
“But. Your time and space, you should know everything that happens, everywhere” Said the boy, Even more confused   
“Time and space isn’t Simple. The Universe is ever Expanding, plus pocket dimensions can be out of my control, depends who created them and how, it’s hard for one being to keep track of all that space. As for Time looking into the past is simple as it’s been set in stone, unless something has changed it, as for the future. Well such as vast expanse of time can only be navigated so much, even by me, I can see futures that are most likely to happen, but at points where Critical points in time, or Timestamps, are created it all gets fuzzy. Plus, I couldn’t look at your past if I wanted too, it has been shredded across time after all.” Tace said, staring at the Cube “Now then, be precise, what planet are you from?”  
  
“Oxford’s on Earth, duh” The boy said, confused on how such an almighty being wouldn’t know that.  
“Oh Beggar.” A look of dread appeared on Tace’s face. Earth. Oh, how that name has haunted the Celestials, like a thorn in their side. “Of all the places for you to come from, it had to be Earth” he turned his gaze towards the boy “So then, Are you an Anomaly?” His dread turned into a look of loathing   
“A what?” The Boy had heard the phrase “Being an Anomaly” before, but he couldn’t remember where or when.   
“An Anomaly, beings that have inexpiable powers, only found on the useless rock called Earth” Tace said with Spite.  
“Care to explain that more, like you’ve done with literally every other little thing?” The boy was starting to get board of all the explanations.  
“Hey, you should be thankful that I’m explaining everything to you. Had you been with any of the other Celestials you wouldn’t have got a single useful answer from them, they’re both too up their own asses to give a mere mortal an answer, especially one from Earth. Anyway, I’ll pass, it’s not my area of expertise.” Tace said annoyed “Back to the matter at hand, Do me a favour and touch the Cube”  
“Why?” asked the boy, who was confused once more  
“Oh for time’s sake, if you just stop asking questions and just do as I tell you then maybe you’d get the answers you seek” Tace batted the Cube with his paws towards the boy. The boy looked at the Cube and went to put a hand on it, but he hesitated.   
“What if it completely erases me this time?” Fear had started to slowly grip the boy’s soul  
“I won’t lie. If you’re an Anomaly, chances are you’ll survive and hopefully the cube might restore some base memories. However, if it turns out you’re not an anomaly and you survived the first touch by pure luck, then yes. You might get completely erased. You willing to take that risk?” Tace looked at the boy and the cube, and for the first time in ages, he genuinely didn’t know what was going to happen. Whilst the boy was talking, he had attempted to gaze into the immediate future, but it was all extremely fuzzy. Meaning whatever happens now is a timestamp, this worried Tace, Timestamps don’t happen often and when they do, they usually effect much more than a single person.   
“Fine. I-I’ll do it, this better work” Said the boy who’s hands and voice where shaking with nerves. He pressed both hands against the cube and gripped it firmly. Suddenly the cube began to glow brightly, and its power began to flow through the boy’s veins and directly into his soul, he began to scream out in pain.   
  
Visions of places and people started to flow out from the cube, like holograms, first a small room, full of toy spaceships and aliens, with a little spaceman alarm clock on the windowsill, which Tace was trying his best to knock off, but to no avail, his paw just kept passing through it, the boy looked at Tace and smirked. Tace immediately blinked to the other side of the room.  
“You didn’t see anything.” He said, hiding his embarrassment.   
The boy then looked down to see that there was a small child sat on the floor playing with a shiny toy spaceship. The child looked no older than four, with thin black hair and innocent blue eyes, eyes that had yet to be spoiled by time. The boy looked at the floor and saw more toys and books around him, one of the books was titled “Aliens and other imaginary things”.  
“Is this me? My childhood?” Asked the boy. Tace sat upon the space next to him.  
“You where the last person to touch the cube, and you just touched it again now and all kinds of sparks and rays flowed out of it. I’d wager to say your right, so pay attention. I’m not rewinding a second of this”  
Then a woman entered the room, she was tall, with flowing blonde hair and caring eyes. She was wearing a vivid green jumper and a pair of bright blue jeans.  
“*****, It’s bedtime sweetie” She said in a sweet voice. The boy felt like he should know this voice, his heart pumped faster when he heard it, but he did not know why.   
“*****, come on, get into your bed” There was that word again, The word he couldn’t understand, the word that discomforted him to his core, The boy wanted to know what that word is but for some reason he couldn’t understand it.  
“What is that word, that sound?” Asked the boy  
“It’s your name” Said Tace, who was trying to move a sock on the floor, again to no avail.   
“You can understand it?!”  
“Yes, heard every letter of it. But you’ve been erased from time and space, your name no-longer exists, so any attempt to speak it becomes a paradox centred solely on you, no matter what you try, speaking, writing, hieroglyphs. It will just become jumbled sounds and letters to you, and you alone”  
“Is little ***** not getting into bed again?” another voice said, this voice sounded deeper, grittier than the woman’s voice. A man entered the room, practically a giant compared to the current size of the boy. The man had a big bushy moustache, with short brown hair, he was wearing a tartan jumper with a basic pair of jeans. The man’s face and voice echoed authority and this is when the boy realised.

“These people, these people must be my parents” but their names could not come to him, like trying to call a cat by its name, it was completely useless and would never work. He tried his hardest to remember their names, but all he could see was that dammed cube in his mind again.  
“Well done, you solved the case, would you like your prize now or later?” Tace said, laden with more sarcasm than an average Brit.   
“*****, Into bed, Now.” Said the man in a stern voice, stood over the child. The child giggled and extended its hands towards the man. “*****, Don’t make me repeat myself” The child giggled again. “That’s it *****” the man then picked up the child and put him into the bed with a light thud as the child landed on the pillow, then they both started to laugh, the boy heard the child say “Again! Again!” but it wasn’t his voice, it was shriller.  
“No, no ***** that’s enough for one day, it’s time for bed now” The man said, softly laughing, His laugh was a deep laugh, the kind that reverberates through your very bones. But it was comforting to the boy. The man drew the curtains and turned off the light, leaving a small rocket-shaped nightlight on by the door.  
“Night Night *****, Sweet Dreams” Said the woman, softly smiling, she had the kind of smile that could comfort any storm, A real smile, forged from the most unconditional love.  
  
Then the vision changed. The small room had become a giant park, the bright green trees where swaying in the gentle breeze, the dazzling river in front of them had perfect reflections of the sun in its waters and there where happy children playing around him.  
“This is Oxford right?” Said the boy, trying to think where he remembered this all from.  
“You’re the one who says they used to live here, you should know” Said Tace, staring at the clouds. The boy looked around to see the same child from before, but older now, around 16, judging by his ache.   
“So that’s me? That’s what I look like?” The boy took a long look at the boy on the bench and saw the girl next to him. She had shiny long brown hair, dazzling green eyes full of hope and the most perfect smile he had ever seen. The boy’s heart skipped a beat upon seeing her, he knew this girl. He felt knew her better than anyone else. But he didn’t remember her.  
“No” Said Tace, with his usual grace. “That’s *****.”  
“Yeah, That’s me, right?” The boy was confused by what Tace meant  
“No. That boy there, on the bench, *****. He doesn’t exist anymore. Everything about him has been shredded across time and space. You. You’re just what’s left of him, His body and the last shred of his mind. ***** is dead. You’re his empty shell nothing more than a body without a soul, A pie without a filling, A god without followers.” The boy was about to question how he could live without a soul, but before he could Tace looked at him with a silencing gaze and gestured towards the girl  
“So why have you dragged me all the way out here?” She said, in a heavenly voice, a voice that intoxicated the boy, a voice that made him desperate to remember her. But he couldn’t.  
“Well, Uh, I, Uh Have something to tell you Sarah” Said the vision, in the boy’s voice. The boy was shocked by this at first, but then realised that this must be another memory of his, an important one at that, but he couldn’t remember anything about this Sarah girl he was with, but he knew he should.   
“What do you have to tell me *****?” Sarah said, a with a hopeful look in her eye, she slowly nudged closer to the boy. The boy felt at ease around the girl, yet nervous about what the vision would say next.  
“Well Sarah, I, Uh, I…” Said the vision, in the boy’s trembling voice.  
“Oh god, I hate scenes like this” Said Tace, trying to ignore the whole scene  
“Shut up, you’re the one who told me to pay attention” Spat the boy. Tace didn’t listen, he was too busy considering if a cosmic hairball would improve the mood, but before he could decide, the girl spoke again.  
“Go one then, spit it out” Said Sarah, giggling softly   
“Yes, Sure, Here goes” The vision took a deep breath “Sarah. I think. I think I’m in love with you” The boy was shocked. That what Sarah was to him, his lover!? The boy tried to stop thinking about it and listened to what she’d say next. Tace on the other hand vomited into the river, forgetting that there was no river, and that in reality his hairball is now headed straight for a developing planet. He loathed this kind of lovey dovely stuff, only intelligent creatures did it, when in his eyes they could be doing so much more than engaging in ridiculous acts of love.  
“*****! Yes! Yes! Yes! I love you too!” squealed Sarah overflowing with excitement her eyes brimming with joy, she started to cry tears of joy and hugged the boy. The boy didn’t know what to think, This Sarah was his girlfriend, the boy felt overjoyed and wanted to cry tears of joy, but why had he been shown this vision? Why this point in their relationship? Sarah then moved over to kiss the boy, but before she could.  
  
The vision changed again. This time he was in a large street it. The boy was soaked to the skin, was heavily raining and the street was full of people carrying umbrellas. The boy recognised this place.   
“This. This is Cornmarket Street. So, I’m still in oxford, why am I being show this?”   
“No idea, but maybe if you pay attention you’ll find out” Droned Tace, he found this whole vision malarkey very dull.  
The boy saw himself, older this time, with messy, unkempt hair and stubble growing on his chin like moss. The boy watched himself start to stagger along, dragging his legs and muttering hateful nonsense under his breath, holding onto a bottle of booze wrapped in a paper bag, the vision took a large swig from the bottle and continued to stagger along the street, people around him took one look at him and then curved around to avoid any kind of contact with him.   
“So, this is what I became? A drunkard? What happened to my parents? To Sarah?”   
The vision then took a piece of paper from his pocket and solemnly looked at it. On the paper where results for an Exam the boy had taken, but he didn’t know what on, the results read.  
“*****. Results D-. Professor Frank’s Remarks, Next time *****, study more instead of talking nonsense during my lectures and skipping them to stay with your girlfriend. Unfortunately, due to bad performance you are being sent down. Sincerely, Professor V. Iral.”

The boy was appalled.

  
“This is who I was, some useless university dropout? Some nobody who puts people over his own future. No. I can’t be. I must have had a reason to do that.” The boy didn’t know what to think.   
“Yeah, you were, and no, you probably didn’t” Taunted Tace. He’d seen this kind of scene billions of times, and it was always the same. A mortal hit’s a tragedy and then just gives up, thinks it’s all over and usually ends themselves, one way or another. Tace was already placing bets in his head on how this one would off himself.   
Then the boy heard a familiar voice  
“*****? Is that you?” It was her voice, Sarah’s voice. It calmed the boy, but then he heard the vision say   
“And what the fuck do you want.” In a harsh and slurred voice, laden with spite. The Vision attempted to quickly turn away, but instead slipped on the wet floor and fell over into a nearby alleyway hitting its head hard on the concreate.  
“*****, You need to stop this. You must stop this” Sarah said, her perfect voice trembling with worry. “I know you failed the Exam, but look past that, you’re smarter than what Professor Iral says, you can just re-apply or join a different university”   
“I Failed the exam because of you!” the vision yelled in a drunken rage “Because I was sorting out your problems! Because I always had to be there for you! But when it came for me to be there for myself, you wouldn’t allow it! I just had to stay with you! Always! Trapped in your god dam bedroom sorting out your life when I should have been sorting out my own!” The vision staggered up from the floor, bleeding heavily from the head, and attempted to stagger down the alleyway away from Sarah.  
“*****! You’re bleeding! You need medical help! Wait! I’m sorry for everything I’ve caused you, but I can’t let you destroy yourself like this, we can-” but before she could finish her sentence the vision bellowed   
“Shut the fuck up! god fucking dammit! There is no we anymore! You made sure of that! You ranted on about how “You didn’t like what I had become” and how I “Never had any time for you” I gave you all my time! All of it! To the point where I sacrificed my own life to stay with you!” The vision screamed a scream of pure agony and despair, people started to stop and stare at the boy “I wish I’d never met you! I wish I’d never applied to this bloody university! I wish I’d never fucking existed!” Upon saying those words. Something glowed behind the vision, A golden glow. The vision looked ahead but nothing was moving. Not Sarah, not the staring people, not even the rain. Time had stopped. The vision turned around to a see golden cube floating in the alleyway.

“So that’s what this vision is” Sobbed the boy, sadness flowing through his soul “This is how I died. I wished for it. I wished for the sodding Cube to appear.”   
“What.” Tace was shook “You called the cube? But that’s impossible, I bound the Cube to me upon it’s creation” Tace walked around the alleyway trying to figure out how this was possible.  
The vision slowly walked towards the cube.   
“Please, don’t do it, don’t touch it” begged the boy, hoping that the vision would listen. The vision extended a hand towards the Cube.  
“Please! Don’t! Don’t do it! You can go back! Turn around and apologise! Just don’t touch the cube!” The boy was screaming, but deep down he knew nothing he’d say would change what was about to happen”  
  
The Vision touched the cube.  
  
Suddenly a spark of pure time energy bolted through the boy and he felt his very soul being ripped out and shredded across time and space. The Vision then fell to the floor, the sudden thud of the pavement cracking his head open, blood going down the gutter.

“*****!?” a voice said, rousing the boy from his slumber, but not fully, he couldn’t open is eyes or mouth he didn’t have the strength. “What? What’s that? Who Said that? Where am I?” thought the vision. Then the Vision ended, and the boy was back in space, with Tace sat across the space, looking down at him.

“Well that was. Interesting” Said Tace, now staring at the cube, confused on how this nobody of a mortal called such a powerful anomaly to his side. Not only called it, but made it grant his twisted wish.

“So, where do I go from here?” Said the boy. He’d sat up now, staring into space, Literally. 

“No idea, Figure it out.” Said Tace, too busy contemplating the cube of time to care about what the boy wanted. Tace’s body began to shimmer like diamonds, then vanished. But the cube stayed there, floating just above the boy.

“What the?! Come back! How am I meant to get back to home!? How am I even still alive in outer fucking space?!” The boy yelled, but there was no answer. He looked at the cube, pondering what Tace had said. “He said I’d called it to me. So. Maybe I can command it to take me to him?” The boy looked around at the vast space around him, the stars twinkling in rhythm to the cosmos. “Can’t stay here” he thought, and so he once more grabbed the Cube, sending another shock of Temporal and Spatial Energy through him, though this time it didn’t hurt as much. Lifting the cube up high he yelled   
“Cube of Time! I demand that you take me to that dammed cat!” The Cube began to glow silver and gold, becoming so bright that the boy was blinded by it. Suddenly the light faded.  
  
The Boy was still in space.  
  
“Fuck.” Said The boy. “Why didn’t that do anything?! It glowed and all!” He punched the cube, a Spark of golden energy flying crackled out from it. “I’ve gotta go back!” he forcefully grabbed the cube and lifted it up, yelling once more “Cube of Time! I demand that you take me back to Oxford, To Cornmarket Street!” Once more the cube brightly shone, Brighter than before, blinding the boy. He opened his eyes.

Oxford. He was in Oxford. In the same ally where he found the cube, well, more where the cube found him. He looked around, the ally was the same, but Cornmarket street had changed. The shops where larger, with bigger windows and brighter lights, on such store was promoting something called an “I-Phone” The boy had never heard of such a thing before, other stores promoted more things he’d never seen, Tv’s that can fit in your hand, Portable speakers that didn’t need wires and “Cornish Pasties” which the boy could only assume was some kind of spread.   
  
“So, you can control it.” An annoyingly familiar voice said from behind him. The boy turned around to see Tace at his feet, Looking up at him with curious eyes.

“Only because I begged.” The boy said, too confused to be angry at Tace for leaving him. “What’s up with this place anyway? This isn’t how I remembered it.” He stared into Cornmarket street, the people wandering past, staring at mini screens in their hands, unable to look around them.

“Time” Said Tace, Scanning the boy up and down, staring into his soul. “What year was it when you left?”

“1977, I remember that much, couldn’t tell you the exact date” The boy was still gazing into Cornmarket Street, both Amazed and Fearful of what he saw, everything looked so futuristic. So Slim and Shiny, He couldn’t understand what had happened, or why.

“1977? You’re in for a rough ride” Said Tace, Staring into the crowd of people.

“Why? What’s Happened”

“Figure it out.” Tace said as he opened a Cat-Size portal In front of him.

“What? Wait! Don’t go! What am I meant to do!?” The boy begged. And attempted to grab Tace, who teleported himself in front of the boy and began to speak extremely fast. 

“I’m getting bored of your constant begging, so I shall give you the short version and then leave. If you want to find who you where, then you’ll have to rely on the cube, it’s probably the only thing that could locate the shards of your soul. You’ve got minor control over it, but due to its impossible existence I can guarantee on side effects. If you somehow survive for long enough, I Might help you out, but only because I wish to see the inner workings of that cube. Is this answer satisfactory to you? Yes? Good. Goodbye” And with that, Tace hopped into the Portal, closing it before him.

The boy sat in the ally, slightly confused, still processing everything that Tace had said. After wrapping what Tace had said around his head, he got up, and headed into Cornmarket street.   
  
“Well, Gotta start somewhere.” He said, walking into the crowd.  
  
  



End file.
